Him se yldesta andswarode; werodes wisa, wordhord onleac.
"That noblest of men answered him; the leader of the warrior band unlocked his wordhoard."

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Latest on the Beowulf Movie

LLCoolCarl has an update on the upcoming Beowulf movie, along with his trademark wit. I have to confess, I can't share in the messianic confidence Carl and many others place in Neil Gaiman. The only film I've seen with which he's been associated was the bland and overhyped Princess Mononoke. Comic books and novels aren't movies, so I see no reason to get all excited.

So, please, Wordhoarders, desist from telling me that the new movie won't suck because Neil Gaiman is involved. It might not suck, I desperately hope it doesn't suck, but that raspy sound you hear is me not holding my breath.

4 comments:

I have a friend who works for Sony, and has seen some of the footage for the film. He also has an interest in seeing a good version of the story, but is not working on it so has no real pull.

Things I have heard:

1. No horned helmets.2. Everyone drinks from horns.3. The initial scene with Grendel in the hall is "brutal."4. Jolie is sexy mom, not scary mom.5. Appearance wise, Grendel is described as "proscuitto man"

As far as Gaiman fanboydom goes, he does have a good head for myth, and was involved in the BBC Neverwhere, so there are indications that his involvement would benefit the film

"Princess Mononoke" (although, incidentally; one of my favourite films of all time - so I'm not even going to touch the "bland and overhyped" comment) is the single worst work in Neil Gaiman's entire oeuvre by which to judge his ability as a writer.

His sole contribution to the film was tweaking the English-language script into something a bit more workable for the voice-actors than the literal translation of the original Japanese script.

The only reason he was involved at all is that the producers of the English-language version felt that Gaiman's name would lend "star power" to an essentially unknown (at that time, anyway - Hayao Miyazaki went on to win an Oscar for "Spirited Away") production.

i also think Gaiman is something close to deity... but as my Anglo-Saxon tutor pointed out, his business is entertainment, not Keeping Persnickety Medievalists Happy. I believe the plan is for our class to go see it together, in order to save our friends and relatives the pain of putting up with us being insufferable about it.

I have much higher hopes for other Gaiman-related movies coming this/next year, such as Coraline and Stardust.